rivencraft/README.md

# Rivencraft

Rivencraft is a clean, incremental port of the ideas and gameplay of
[Mystcraft Legacy](https://github.com/Mystcraft/Mystcraft-Legacy) to Minecraft
1.21.1 on NeoForge.

The bootstrap, books/linking, and Ages milestones are complete. Milestone 4 is
building the writing system on a data-pack symbol catalog and persistent
ordered-writing model. The project currently provides functional Linking Books
and randomly seeded, persistent vanilla-like Ages created from page-free
Descriptive Books. Instability and full symbol-to-world grammar interpretation
have not been ported yet.

Milestone 4 now includes stackable blank Pages plus server-created symbol,
unresolved-symbol, and baseline link-panel states. Page visuals follow the
legacy runtime-composition rules. Craft an Ink Vial from two black dye, a glass
bottle, and a water bucket; the bucket is returned. Hold vanilla paper in one
hand and use the Ink Vial in the other to prepare a baseline Link Panel Page.
Each vial holds 16 ink units, and the default link-panel cost is two units.
The spent vial returns a glass bottle. Server owners can adjust the symbol-copy
and link-panel costs in the `writing` section of `rivencraft-server.toml`.
The Writing Desk can copy a selected written page from its collection tabs.
The Writing Desk is now craftable from planks, a glass bottle, and a feather.
It occupies two adjacent blocks, with one shared inventory; loaded paper and
the selected page appear on its Legacy-inspired model.
Desks placed before 0.3.6.1 keep their old one-block footprint until broken
and placed again; leave an adjacent space when replacing one.
Its 88 collection tabs, paper input, ink vial input, empty glass-bottle return,
16-unit ink meter, and inventory persist
through world saves; breaking it drops stored contents. The desk screen is a
functional foundation using Legacy's original desk and scrollbar textures.
Four tabs are visible at once; the controls above and below them move by four
(1–4, 5–8, through 85–88). Each viewer can browse a different group. Existing
four-tab desks retain their collections and supplies when upgraded.
With a notebook selected, pick up a Page from your inventory and click an empty
position on the left surface to store one page there. Clear search/filter/sort
and turn off `ALL` to place pages at specific positions; occupied positions are
never overwritten. A notebook tab exposes all 27 notebook positions (scroll to
reach the rest); a loose-page tab exposes only its one occupied position.
Empty tabs have no page storage until a notebook or page is put in the tab slot.
Click a page on the desk surface to select it for copying. Drag a page from one
notebook position to an empty position to move it, or onto another page to swap
their positions. This also works between notebooks shown in the `ALL` view.
Drag a page out of the panel to turn it back into an item. Drop it over a player
inventory slot or desk tab to place it there; a tab with a notebook adds it to
the first open position. Dropping elsewhere leaves the page on the cursor for
normal inventory placement. The source notebook or tab loses the page only after
a valid drop.
Put vanilla paper in the
upper-left slot and Ink Vials in the upper-right; a copy appears in the
lower-left result slot when the selected page is valid. Taking it consumes one
paper and, by default, one ink. An available vial refills an empty ink meter
when inserted or when copying uses its last ink, and returns a vanilla glass
bottle to the lower-right slot. Removing a bottle also retries a blocked refill.
Refilling waits if that slot is full or contains another item. The `AZ` control sorts
visible pages by name; `ALL` shows pages held across every desk tab. Search and
category filtering narrow the view without granting new pages, and cross-tab
copy selection is checked by the server.
Selecting a stored page on the desk surface shows its Legacy-proportioned
portrait preview and name above the player inventory.

## Linking Book

Craft a Linking Book from a vanilla book and an ender pearl, then use it in the
air. An unbound book opens a screen where it can be named and bound to the
current location. A bound book opens its destination screen and travels when
its preview panel is clicked. The destination is stored on the item and
survives inventory and world saves. Travel only succeeds if the target
dimension is loaded and a non-fluid, passable landing position can be found
nearby.

Successful book travel plays Mystcraft Legacy's original linking sound at both
the departure and arrival locations.

Right-click an empty vanilla lectern with a Rivencraft book to convert it into
a Book Stand and place the book on it. Use a Linking Book on the stand by
right-clicking with an empty hand. Sneak-right-click with an empty hand to take
the book back and restore the vanilla lectern. Breaking a Book Stand drops both
the stored book and a vanilla lectern.

Bound Linking Books show a rotating Ponder snapshot when Create is installed.
Without Create, they use a built-in animated linking panel tinted by the
destination sky. The server independently validates every link.

## Descriptive Book

Open a page-free Descriptive Book, name its Age, and press Create. Rivencraft
assigns the book a permanent Age UUID, selects a deterministic base terrain,
creates a dedicated runtime dimension, and prepares a five-by-five cobblestone
arrival platform at the
highest suitable nearby terrain. Solid blocks and tree leaves are valid
footing. Candidate columns are scanned from the top down so cave floors are not
selected, and fluid-covered columns are excluded. If no suitable surface is
available, the platform is generated at Y=63. Reopen the book and click its preview to travel.
The book cannot reopen while its Age is being generated, whether held or on a
Book Stand. Once creation finishes, reopening shows the written book.
Copies of the written book continue to resolve to the same persistent Age
across server restarts.

New Age dimension folders use a Minecraft-safe lowercase form of the assigned
name. Conflicts receive incrementing suffixes such as `_2` and `_3`; existing
Age folders are never renamed.

Page-free Ages deterministically select one of six base terrains inspired by
Mystcraft Legacy: Standard, Amplified, Island, Cave, Flat, or Void. The chosen
profile is saved with the Age and does not change when the server restarts.

Linking creates a bound Return Link to the exact source position and orientation
according to the configured Return Link policy.

Server owners can set `descriptive_books.return_link_mode` in Rivencraft's
server config to `ON_CREATION` (default), `ALWAYS`, or `DISABLED`.
Age creation, persistence, lifecycle commands, configuration, backups, and
administrator recovery are documented in [docs/AGES.md](docs/AGES.md).
Data-pack runtime profiles are documented in
[docs/AGE_PROFILES.md](docs/AGE_PROFILES.md).

## Requirements

- A Java 21 JDK
- Minecraft 1.21.1
- NeoForge 21.1.251 or newer in the 21.1 line
- Dynamic Dimensions AR Edition 0.9.1 and Bad Packets 0.8.2 (client and server)

Create is optional. When installed, Rivencraft uses its Ponder renderer for
book previews when Immersive Portals is absent. Immersive Portals is also
optional and takes priority in the default `AUTO` mode, providing a live
rotating destination view. Its Explore button enables WASD and jump/sneak
camera movement plus left-drag camera look; right-click returns to the rotating
view. Without either integration, Rivencraft uses its built-in animated linking
panel. Clients can set `book_preview.mode` in
`rivencraft-client.toml` to `AUTO`, `IMMERSIVE_PORTALS`, `PONDER`, or `LEGACY`.
Unavailable optional renderers safely fall back to `LEGACY`.
The complete backend matrix, supported combinations, cleanup behavior, and
known upstream limits are documented in
[docs/PREVIEW_COMPATIBILITY.md](docs/PREVIEW_COMPATIBILITY.md).

## Build and run

```shell
./gradlew build
./gradlew runClient
```

The built mod is written to `build/libs/`.

## Versioning

Rivencraft versions use `x.y.z.b`:

- `x` changes for a major public release.
- `y` changes when a development milestone is completed.
- `z` changes for each release slice within the current milestone.
- `b` changes for bug fixes and additional work within that release slice.

The build component resets to zero when a new release slice begins. Completing
a milestone increments `y` and resets both `z` and `b` to zero. For example,
milestone 2 development can progress from `0.1.1.0` to `0.1.1.1`, then
`0.1.2.0`; completing the milestone produces `0.2.0.0`.

## Porting approach

Mystcraft Legacy targets Forge for Minecraft 1.12.2. Rivencraft therefore
ports one subsystem at a time onto current registries, codecs, data packs, and
NeoForge APIs instead of importing the legacy source tree wholesale.

See [docs/PORTING.md](docs/PORTING.md) for the roadmap, live Gitea tracking
links, architectural direction, and provenance rules.

## License

Rivencraft is licensed under LGPL-3.0-or-later. Mystcraft Legacy is also
LGPL-3.0; copied or adapted upstream code must retain its copyright and license
notices. See [LICENSE](LICENSE) and [NOTICE](NOTICE).